Tag: government

The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board Chair will see some of his managers this week.San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo – also VTA Board Chair this year – will be our guest at our group’s upcoming meeting this Thursday in San Jose.

TIME/DATE: Thursday, April 26 at 6pmPLACE: San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 48 S. 7th Street (between Santa Clara and San Fernando Streets), San JoseGETTING THERE: Many VTA bus lines like the 22, 522 Rapid, 72, 73 and Highway 17 Express stop near the Peace and Justice Center. There is limited bicycle and automobile parking behind the building, so it’s advisable to take public transit to and from the building. There is also wheelchair access behind the building.

Last month, I wanted to experiment with providing a brief summary of a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board Of Directors meeting. Your feedback demanded more information be provided for such summaries. So, in the future, more detail will be provided for such summaries.

That said, the September 7 VTA Board Of Directors Meeting and follow-up workshops revealed a potential conflict of interest in a formed sales tax measure watchdog group. They also confirmed routing for two bus lines, once the BART extension to Milpitas and Berryessa comes online. Finally, conflict was revealed between VTA and BART over how a tunnel for BART in downtown San Jose should be built.

Detailed information on all of this (in chronological order) is below.

If VTA pursues a more ridership-purposed transit network, routes that would be leading candidates to be decreased or discontinued are coverage-purposed routes located in the low density areas of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and the Almaden Valley, East Hills and Evergreen areas of San Jose. Some of the riders in these areas depend on VTA for transportation and VTA is exploring alternatives to retain their mobility while lowering the per-ride subsidy that VTA currently pays, which generally ranges from double to triple the system-wide average per-ride subsidy.

Where VTA’s “Next Network” workshop will be held:

TIME & DATE: November 18 at 2:00pm
PLACE: VTA Auditorium at VTA’s River Oaks headquarters, 3331 N. First Street, San Jose
GETTING THERE: VTA’s headquarters is across the street from River Oaks light rail station. It is also served bh the 58 bus line.

Special thanks to @CALHSR on Twitter for informing our group of this news item.

The meeting site is the County Supervisors’ Chambers at the County Government Offices 70 W. Hedding Street (at North First Street) in San Jose. The County Government Offices are one block north of the Civic Center light rail station and the bus stop for VTA’s 61, 62, 66 and 181 express bus lines. Plan on driving to the VTA Board Meeting? There’s free on-street parking in front of and across Hedding Street from the County Government Offices, starting right at 5:30pm.